By Shaenon K. Garrity

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All in all, this fellow came out almost exactly the way I wanted. Drawing the face with a Sharpie helped.

All the hamsters are named after old coworkers at Viz.

I wrote this one way, way early; the whole storyline is basically built around the concept of a bunch of hamsters dressed as a guy. That said, I’m disappointed with the way the final art turned out. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but the thumbnail of Artie’s expression in the third panel was perfect. Sometimes you just can’t recapture the magic.

Lord, Human!Artie is a fun character to draw. He has such an expressive face. Anyway, yeah, Artie’s not a mad scientist, so these declarations don’t come naturally to him. But it’s okay, because he’s adorable with hamsters all over him.

I kind of have a soft spot for Artie.

Let it never be forgotten: large groups of hamsters are always adorable. Large groups of hamsters perched all over a hot guy are even better.

Artie’s hand gesture in the second panel is a pose for zazen meditation, so apparently he’s followed up on his idea from this week of strips.

Looking at it now, this strip is pretty good, but at the time all I could think was that drawing all these hamsters was a big pain in the butt. They’re pretty cute little guys, though.

I wrote this strip early on, way before any of the other strips in this storyline, and I still think it’s pretty funny. That said, Sammy the Thread-Spool Man came out much better in the thumbnail than the final art. I think you only ever get one shot at drawing Sammy the Thread-Spool Man.

I’ve been talking withGood Professor Smith,We’ve been sitting here and having such an erudite chat!Almost leaving, whenI’m delayed againBy a hamster-powered scarecrow in a coat and hat!

CHORUS: Now they’re gonna try to shake my hand, Even though the thing can barely stand! Kinda lurch when they walk; They’re hamsters, I assume now! (Hamsters, I assume, yeah!) Now they’re gonna try to shake my hand, Even though I had already planned To be having a talk With Zeta in her room, now! (Zeta in her room, yeah!)

Face is not on straight!It’s a paper plate!The body is operated by a hamster or five!Such a clumsy thing!Now they’re arguingOver whose responsibility it is to drive! (repeat CHORUS)

I hadn’t read it at the time, but on looking again now, this guy reminds me a lot of Boss Smiley from the Sandman story “The Golden Boy”. And this current strip in particular feels just like the deal with the Devil that the aforementioned story revolved around.

Interestingly enough, Boss Smiley from that Sandman story was a RETURNING character from the depressingly short-lived “Prez” series in 1973. And yes, now that you mention it, the hamster man IS an awful lot like Boss. Also reminds me of Muppet Man, which I can’t believe I fell for.

FYI: I’m doing a special promotion for the month of February. Any Skin Horse book purchase from the Couscous store (http://www.couscous.2dcomics.com/store/) comes with an original strip. Which is lovely.

@eddurd: Oh, Ed, if someone were to ask, “How much harder could Ed Gedeon rock?”, I think the answer would have to be, “None. None harder. Ed Gedeon rocks so hard that he’s taken the hardness of rocking to levels entirely undreamt-of in the history of rocking.”

Reading this, I flashed back to The Lion King, when Simba shows up and gets mistaken for Mufasa … and now I’m imagining Artie slowly ascending to the top of the sofa as Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack plays in the background. Of course, to make it authentic, someone would have to set off the sprinkler in the room …